Mortal Object
by The8thNeedle
Summary: "All players are born equal." That's my motto. No player goes into a game with more advantages than the other- in a physical sense, at least. The presentation of opportunities, on the other hand... Features my OC.


**I've been lurking here long enough; it's time for me to contribute! I had this idea a bit ago, and the fact that it's stayed in my mind until now tells me I have to have an output. This features an original character of mine, but other characters may appear later. I apologize in advance if official characters seem out of character, I'm still kinda working on that. Regardless of so, please enjoy the story!**

I was probably the most notable person at the start of the Game.

Being one of the few Americans to play the Game, let alone participate in the beta, was already a big enough deal as-is, but I think having red hair made the notoriety jump through the roof. Apparently, there aren't a whole ton of people like me in the Asian regions.

A couple of superstitious folk had even rubbed my hair for good luck a few roads back. All I could do was attempt to ignore them and keep to the path.

This alleged 30 seconds of fame I got wasn't the even the strangest thing to happen- well, not that strange things hadn't already happened. That being said, it was relative to what other players had experienced.

It was the third day after the Beginning. The initial chaos after the Director's announcement had died down, but people were now extremely cautious. Most of them knew how to kill monsters and use sword skills, sure, but after hearing their lives were on the line, they felt dying after a critical hit from a Red Slime wouldn't be the best way to go.

I was a tad more outgoing. Call it my violent American nature, the FPSs I play after school oh so often, the glorifying war propaganda, whatever. I wasn't going to stay cooped up in a single minuscule town for any longer than I had to.

Instead, I fought boars.

They were kind of fancy fights, too. Sword Skills were kind of my forte in this game. I had spent most of my time figuring them out in the Beta, so I had the best course of action during the real game. I quickly learned which abilities were simply class filler, and which had some combative potential. After all, what good is an Sword Skill if the best thing it can do is mince a carrot?

I digress. I was fighting boars. I didn't have too much to kill it with, but it was more equipment than most of the players. A dull iron gladius, a circular buckler, a leather chest plate. You know, the works.

I just learned this new skill I hadn't seen before. I had killed that last boar pretty quickly. Come to think about it, I'm not sure if that second hit even connected… Wiping a bit of sweat from my brow, I checked the menu to see an ominous dialog at the bottom of my skill list.

_You bear The Mark._

_Well, that's nifty. What does it mean?_ I tapped on the screen projection, thinking maybe it was a glitched quest notifier, but nothing came of it. I wasn't sure what to do, but it didn't seem to have any noticeable effect on me. Forgetting about it, I was compelled (by my sim-stomach, strangely) to visit a restaurant for dinner. After all of that jazz, I eventually rented a meager inn room with a fraction of the Kol I'd looted that day. I don't remember too much, I must've been a bit tired. After I took a shower (I think I took one that day... or was it the day before?), I slipped into the mediocre bed and fell under sleep's influence.

It turned out that it was after I slept that the aforementioned Mark was important. Damn, I should have tried to find more info on that damn thing, because it was a bit of a game changer.

I woke up to the voice I recalled as the Director, the one who had made that life-changing announcement, the man who was now responsible for killing over a thousand innocent people.

"Hello, Judas, I have a proposal for you."

**That finishes the chapter! Please consider reviewing, it's where I can learn to improve and where I get my motivation!**

**Have a cool day,**

**The 8th Needle**


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